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Subject: 
RE: Spybotics demo followup questions
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Wed, 24 Jul 2002 09:51:20 GMT
Original-From: 
Marco Correia <marco@soporcel.^avoidspam^pt>
Reply-To: 
<marco@soporcel#Spamless#.pt>
Viewed: 
827 times
  
This is a mix of a forward/pseudo-X-post and my comments to the Jake msg on
lugnet.lego.direct:

-----Original Message-----> Of Jake McKee
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 7:33 PM
To: lugnet.lego.direct@lugnet.com

All,

Several questions came up during the Spybotics demo at
BrickFest that Jeff
was unable to answer on the spot. He has since passed those
questions and
corresponding answers on to me:


*** How much memory is in the brick? (compared to RCX) ***

Two thirds the memory (4k compared to 6k for program download
"with our
standard firmware"). And it's persistent: because it's stored
in EEPROM, you
can remove the batteries and come back years later to find
your program is
still there in good shape.

*** What speed are the motors  ***

They run off 3 AA batteries so they are 4.5v based, but they cannot be
compared that easily.

Because of a better control scheme in the electronics the speed of the
Spybot motor are very similar to an RCX gear motor (which
runs off 9v).

Furthermore, because of the more advanced, speed can be
controlled much more
precisely. In the RCX gear motors, only torque is
controllable, thus a motor
with no load will run at the same speed regardless of the
setting. Not so
here, we have speed down to a fine art!

*** What communication protocol does the IR transmission use?
“LLM”?  Is it
the same as the  VLL or Virtual Light Link? ***

No, they use a 'standard' IR communication scheme. Very much
like the RCX's
but double the speed and half the message size, so four times
as efficient.

It is possible, though, to send and receive VLL messages
through the light
sensor and the red LED at the back of the robot. For that to work, the
Spybot needs to be disconnected from the PC-cable.

So there's an IR on the SB unit, after all :) GREAT!
I wasn't understanding how the Remote/Beacon would control the unit through
visible light.

I only hope that RCX <-IR-> Spybotics comms is possible.
That would be great.

***  Does the SB brick have the same firmware as an RCX? ***

No, but the user downloaded programs that it runs are very similar in
nature to the RCX. (Both are LASM-based - our own byte code
format - but the
Spybot has more commands and some are more sophisticated than the RCX)


Hopefully this clears things up. I for one can't wait to get
my hands on one
of these sets now!

Jake

---
Jake McKee
Sr. Producer
LEGO Direct


I'm under the impression the Spybotics are better than I first expected.
I like this feeling :)

mc.



Message is in Reply To:
  Spybotics demo followup questions
 
All, Several questions came up during the Spybotics demo at BrickFest that Jeff was unable to answer on the spot. He has since passed those questions and corresponding answers on to me: *** How much memory is in the brick? (compared to RCX) *** Two (...) (22 years ago, 23-Jul-02, to lugnet.lego.direct)

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